ויקרא: Framed: 8" x 13" - Completed 3.17.2011

The drawing is about the altar in the Torah and the types of offerings offered on it to השם (i.e. "The Name" - this in place of the Tetragrammaton, God's proper name in the Tanakh). The Hebrew words in and above the altar in the flames name the six types of offerings discussed early in the book of Leviticus (Hebrew - ויקרא) including the following: עולה, מנחה, מנחה תמיד, חטאת, אשם, and זבח השלמים.

After I had done the Initial altar drawing and had started on the text in the altar I made an interesting mistake: I dropped a blob of ink right near the center of the panel on the right. That gave me two options: either I could scratch it out and leave a rough spot in the drawing, or I could go with it and see what happened. I decided to go with it, and I'm glad that I did. I created the drop on the other side as well, and then started drawing lines out to the drops. After only drawing three lines on each side total, I realized that the drawing had taken a very 'feminine' shape: the lines and ink blots had started looking like ovaries and fallopian tubes, which placed the altar where the uterus is in the female reproductive system.

Even though I had not initially planned on it, the parallels between the altar in the reproductive system made so much sense to me that I took the drawing in that direction full force. I next drew what would be equivelant to the top of the birth canal under the front corner of the altar, and then blotted red ink along the top walls of the altar drawing, which I then slammed down on the table to make the ink run and give it the appearance of blood: both blood poured out on the altar, and blood [poured out] through childbirth as I routed the red ink down the birth canal as well.

As both altar and the reproductive system are givers of life through pain and sacrifice I believe that a drawing which merges them into one is most appropriate: and I find the imagery powerful - this is my favorite of my ink drawings to date.